#50: Shweta Sastri - How A Successfully Mobilized Donation Drive Will Now Launch A Life Saving 120-bed Oxygen Facility At Canadian International School And MORE!
#50: Shweta Sastri - How A Successfully Mobilized Donation Drive Will Now Launch A Life Saving 120-bed Oxygen Facility At Canadian International School And MORE!
If you can, contribute to the fundraiser here.
About Shweta Sastri:
She took over a failing international school at 23 and made it completely eco-friendly and truly international.She pursued her BBM from christ College, MSC in investment banking from the University of Reading, UK. She is passionate about golf, classical dance and travel. A board member of Entrepreneur Organisation's Bengaluru chapter and Sterling Developers, She is the Managing Director of Canadian International School.
But, More than anything else, she’s a resourceful entrepreneur stepping up to save Namma Bengaluru.
Contact Shweta Sastri:LinkedIn
Shweta's Introduction: Let me introduce you to a lady that at the age of 23, took over a failing international school and made it completely eco-friendly, international and diverse. She is a fellow senior from Christ College where she pursued BBM, MSC in investment banking from University of Reading, UK. An investment banking professional turned educationist. She is passionate about golf, classical dance and travel and She is a board member of Entrepreneur Organisation's bangalore and Sterling developers, She is Managing Director of CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOO
More than anything else, she’s a resourceful entrepreneur stepping up to save Namma Bengaluru.
Please...join me in welcoming Shweta Sastri.
Shweta 0:14
Thank you, Puneeth, thank you for hosting me.
Puneeth 0:19
The usual first question I ask and probably this is the only first question that will be common across the episodes is, what were the conversations around dinner table when you were growing up?
Shweta 0:34
Oh, that's a very interesting googly type of question, if you don't really remember. I think it was quite a bit to do with movies. And back then there used to be some drive in theaters as well. So he so he says a family who loves to be the highlight of like the month I think. So connotations about movies. Maybe a little bit of the news. Yeah, very light nothing nothing serious.
Puneeth 1:29
What are the conversations around the dinner table now? I'm wondering,
Shweta 1:34
now it's just about work and about, obviously COVID and , when this is going to be behind us and how life used to be before all this happened, and now we feel like we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, you know? This is going to end and this reminiscing how life used to be before Oh,
Puneeth 2:00
yeah,
totally. Totally. I just before I got on this on squad cast as reading this thing from scroll, or in that banglore is read Bengaluru is reaching a COVID-19 crisis point. Yeah,
Shweta 2:17
absolutely. I mean, it's just gotten from bad to worse. And I think we're one of the within India with the highest in terms of positivity rate as well. Yeah. carry out this.
Puneeth 2:54
tell us about the fundraiser initiative, how it came about.
Shweta 3:00
So we, as members of this organization called e o, the entrepreneurs organization. It's a group of people like minded entrepreneurs, who are part of this large network of people around the world and in Bangalore, Bangalore chapters about congresspeople. So we will, as the board members of the Bangalore chapter, we were contemplating how we as a chapter can contribute towards the you know, what the situation that's going on out there and having this conversation, we realized, in all of our readings and research that oxygen was a big gap that we could fill. So whether it was you know, giving oxygen cylinders or tanks to hospitals, or trying to look for an opportunity to build have a facility that would house oxygen beds, because 80% of COVID patients, they don't require a hospital bed, or an ICU bed. They just require oxygen and monitoring. So that being a gap in the market, what we were seeing was two things. One was patients flocking to hospital because they're panicking, and they want oxygen. But either the hospital was not admitting them because they were not a serious case. And hence, they were not getting up during that then the condition was deteriorating, or the hospital was admitting them and treating them while somebody more serious was outside waiting for a hospital bed. Or even a third scenario where a series of patient has been admitted in hospital has now on the path to recovery and was not willing to leave or go home or let go of the hospital. Because they were not comfortable yet. So in all of these three, these three situations, you know, the gap was off an oxygen bed facility. I mean, there are a lot of these facilities coming up around Bangalore as we speak, which is great, because it's a huge gap in the market and a lot of people are losing their lives in one of these three scenarios, for one reason or the other. So an oxygen bed facility is something that we as a group, in EO decided, was the right thing to do. Just to ease the pressure on hospitals, as well as to help people who are not yet so serious. can the oxygen that they need. So my school , we have about 120-bed boarding facility, where we have students living on campus, so when the school is in session, but now given that the second wave happened, and we're going to the main floors, we decided we might as well use this facility to add to the number of oxygen beds in Bangalore. So hence, your as I know, number of you, we started talking about... this facility is available, how Can we move quickly to make it medical-grade in terms of a step-down facility for oxygen beds in Bangalore. So, that's how this all came about.
Puneeth 7:15
So you have a 120 bed hostel? And you converting that into? Step down? Oxygen bed facility?
Shweta 7:24
Yeah. so it's a boarding facility that we have for the kids and the oxygen bed is, is the project that we tie it up with Cytecare hospital.
which is right down the road from us. And the proximity actually helped them with getting things going and the comfort of being very close by and, mobilizing the nurses and the doctors and the staff to be able to monitor the patients that come in to, and that is just everything is falling into place. Very quickly and quite amazingly magical. Yeah, in such a short period of time, that we are looking to launch the first couple of beds, maybe 25 days by 15th, of May.
Puneeth 8:50
Can you walk us through cuz a lot of listeners are entrepreneurs in the first 1000 days, and they are probably at the lowest point. And this is a fantastic examples of entrepreneurs getting together and figuring the problem out. What were the initial problems that you had to like, Oh, God, I had no idea even this existed. You don't have a background in medical or hospitality or even hospitals,
Shweta 9:17
none of them. So I think it was just about wanting to contribute to the situation and trying to help because I have a facility that has boarding room that has been I mean, what better use of that facility right now than if it then to be helpful to save lives? If it can make you can make use of the facility in such a way that it even saves one life? I mean, I think that's that's the best use of it. Given the current situation in Bangalore Yeah.
Puneeth 10:01
So what does it take? What changes have you had to make to the hostel so far?
Shweta 10:08
we had to completely remove all the soft furnishings and mattresses, the pillows, blankets and linen because we don't want to be using that for the hospital and it's not even medical grade it's for regular our boarding students, right so we replaced all the mattresses and linens the pillows with fresh stuff, that was okay, from the hospital point of view. We had to make sure that the electrical loads in each room were enough for concentrators. So, what's the plan is that we want to do oxygen concentrators as one concentrator per bed which means , to insert in rooms there are two concentrators. So, the Lord has to be enough to be able to manage that then the other thing was fire we have to make sure that you know there is no possibility of fire in the system it because yes, it's an oxygen bed facility, but you know, any small tip up for the good land does badly. So, that was another area we had to make sure that fine fine in in terms of the operations right. So, the entire infrastructure in terms of the physical infrastructure the school is providing, but the operations like the doctors and nurses the monitoring the admission of patients, the treatment, the discharge the movement of the patient to a better facility, in case they need an ICU bed all that is part of fight cases possibility because we do not know or understand any of that because we are just a school. Yeah. So you know make your Yeah, in terms of clear demarcations. So, we will give you the facility but so operations is 100% typekit. We cannot take on any of those liabilities. So that was a very big, you know, part of this piece also. Because these are you at the end of the day, I'm a school right I don't know. I cannot be held responsible for anything that happens in the operations of the Stumptown hospital. So, that is another area of you know, contemplation and thinking for us. Other than that, I think security, laundry food, there was so many, like housekeeping, housekeeping has to be medical grade, it cannot be any housekeeping agencies has to be somebody that worked in a hospital. So end to end, refurbishing the facility to be relevant as a hospital as a step down hospital. it is still a mammoth task. It could still be launched. we have only that much time to be able to go ahead and make it ready for the step down.
Puneeth 13:30
How do the students feel about this? Have you heard from them?
Shweta 13:33
Oh, yeah, students have actually put in a lot of effort to help with the fundraising. There are so many children, actually, not just CF kids but all over Bangalore that are students rally around this cause, you know, helping with the fundraising aspects. they've actually done so much save. I think yesterday's number, actually, the kids between us network of kids and their own friends and other school kids. We've raised about 25 lakhs for this. So it's amazing in terms of contribution from the kids
Puneeth 14:18
to the rest of our 25 lakhs
Shweta 14:21
just from the kids in their own network. Who not not cis kids but all over Bangalore. Your own children use kids and between schools. A lot. They've done a lot. That's a lot. That's a huge number for them.
Puneeth 14:41
Yeah, that's something they would be proud of for the rest of their lives.
Shweta 14:45
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Puneeth 14:49
Love the tagline of one lakh one bed.
Shweta 14:54
Yeah. Yeah. So we had said on that last 100 bids and hundreds of line.
Puneeth 15:02
That was the cam cautious sounded way better than I did.
Shweta 15:06
Yeah. And we're actually getting a goal of about 100 hours to be able to raise the money but in terms of getting pledges, but not money in the bank, we got pledges worth 100 lakhs in about four hours through us how to do that. I'm
Puneeth 15:23
curious
Shweta 15:26
it's just the power of the eo network is absolutely amazing that we have we have 100 plus members and just between them have had plugged in for as we crossed this one crore number. underlap.
Puneeth 15:43
Was this on a whatsapp group? Was this an email chain?
Shweta 16:35
we actually launched the project with our members, we have 107 members in Bangalore. And we launched the project, with a zoom call explaining the cause. And how oxygen beds are the need of the hour. And this is going to be phase one of our projects and things like that. And then we said we'll share a pledge form. The platform is like this, you know, form that you fill saying that I will contribute X amount to this project. And so the pledge form itself, within four hours had crossed a one CR commitment. So that is pretty fabulous.
Puneeth 17:15
Yeah, I can't agree more. I think everybody is feeling the pain, and the chaos and the heartbreak of this pandemic? And
Shweta 17:29
absolutely. Unbelievable where we find ourselves today. in this situation.
Puneeth 17:38
It's devastating. I don't know how else to put it. So you technical question you have the entire school is virtually carbon positive? Because it's done on solar? Yes. So will he step down hospital? Or the step down oxygen bed hospital? Because that's, I think that's technical enough? Will it also be run by? Will it be driven by solar? Or?
Shweta 18:12
Yes? No, absolutely driven by solar mentors, who will whatever electricity is used you is primarily generated through the spooler. If the electricity requirement was more than what the solar is producing in a day, then we go to best form or the generators, if that form is not, right. But otherwise, it's 100%, solar
Puneeth 18:40
10 bastard. I love how random things are coming in alignment to make this effort or efforts like these happen in these times.
Shweta 18:52
Yeah, absolutely. The number of people and the number of kids that have come together for this cause. I mean, I think it's, restored my faith in humanity, It's just amazing to see, it's very humbling to see that, in such a short span of time, so many people put their faith in us, in eo in the school inside cages, just to help support this project , it's just it's very, very humbling.
Puneeth 19:25
Tell me more.
Shweta 19:31
It's just the amount of effort that , everybody's putting in even though they themselves may have COVID or they may have lost family members to COVID or, just the amount of devastation that is out there. And then even then, put in the effort to help support this cause not just from India, we have people and contributions from all over the world. friends, friends of friends, kids And, it's amazing. Absolutely amazing to see and very humbling, because it puts their faith in us. And we're very grateful that so many people have rallied behind us. And behind this call
Shweta 20:44
It's hopefully that this situation will eat in the next next few weeks, because there are so many people who are putting up oxygen bed facilities and trying to ease the pressure from that on hospitals right now. So I am hopeful that even we in our efforts will make a small difference to the situation in Bangalore, but together with so many different organizations coming together, putting up the Miller step down facilities will definitely ease the pressure on hospitals. And
Puneeth 21:24
I can't agree more. I'm just wondering, are there any other gray areas are blind spots that you think are still not being noticed and they could be a bottleneck
Shweta 21:39
in operating the facility or in terms of making Bangalore breathe again,
Puneeth 21:47
making Bangalore breathe again, I like how that I love how that sounds.
Shweta 21:52
So that is actually how we one more tagline that we used for the campaign was helped Bangalore breathe again.
So in terms of bottlenecks, actually, there are not many that we faced, because actually site care has to go and get the approvals for bbmp for this facility, and that happened pretty immediately. they got the approval quite fast, like over one meeting, because they're an established hospital, they have taken the responsibility run the facility for the on the campus. So, we have just been an infrastructure partner and their responsibilities all there. So they had to get these permissions from the BBMP. And that was a pretty smooth process. The network of doctors and Bangalore obviously have recognized, the oxygen beds, and projects like these will ease the pressure on hospitals. Yeah. So I think the bottlenecks were identified a few weeks ago, and now, people are just rallying behind different associations trying to set up this facility and ease that question. So I'm hopeful that, in the next two or three weeks, Bangalore will be in a much better situation than it is today.
Puneeth 23:19
Yeah, then praying for that.
Shweta 23:23
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Puneeth 23:34
What are the challenges that you're trying to resolve right now with this step down hospital and if any listener could chime in maybe some period trying to resolve in a week or two.
Shweta 23:47
So I think the biggest issue we have faced is availability of oxygen concentrators. There are none in the market available immediately to buy there are no concentrators. The reason we choose oxygen concentrators is because a we are a step down hospital. We don't have the hospital infrastructure, which requires the piping and all of the other stuff that goes for needs is required for cylinders. So we only can
Puneeth 24:17
which is a centralized
Shweta 24:19
Yeah, so the centralized piping and things in hospitals is what caters to lenders. So, for a septum facility, you can only use concentrators is what our understanding is. So getting access to concentrators was the biggest, biggest issue in trying to get this facility off the ground. Like I said, there are no concentrators available in the market. We had to find a vendor and import, you know, 100 from here or 50 from the the male batchwise something somehow My first set of concentrators have already arrived on campus. But 15 are there on campus today as we speak. So they will have to be unboxed and tested and made very for site care to start operations. As we speak, we have 15 on campus right now.
Puneeth 25:19
how much? Because I think you must have been paying, like, double the premium or
Shweta 25:25
Oh, yes,
yeah. Yeah, regularly, concentrators apparently cost about 40 to 55,000. at the most. Now, the prices are almost double, you know, because the demand is so high. That I don't, I'm not,
Puneeth 25:42
it's a five liter oxygen concentrator. It's about 7060 70,000 rupees.
Shweta 25:54
So yeah, including GST import, whatever, all inclusive, it will be something like that. So the eo group is taken care of, getting access to concentrators, paying for it, making sure it's imported on time. And all of those wonderful things.
So another issue, or, speed break in terms of trying to get this fitness facility off the ground is availability of doctors and nurses. Suicide care has to find doctors and nurses to man, this facility and I think Kerala is in lockdown. West Bengal is in lockdown. So we had about a week or two ago, we're starting conversations with people in these two state nurses. And now they're not able to travel because their borders, we have to find a way to solve this problem in the next two days. So that we're able to manage the facility.
Puneeth 27:07
I think the suggestion that they wish that these are recommended to the Government of Canada, which got approved is a breather now that all the medical students would be able to chime in.
Shweta 27:21
Exactly, exactly. That's an amazing, amazing suggestion by the end of the day, we should be and I'm glad that the government okay.
Puneeth 28:11
What are the challenges in the next week or two that you foresee? Any, any other?
Shweta 28:16
Um, I think there will be some teething problems, they will definitely be things that we did not see as a problem that will will come up. I'm not exactly sure what those will be. But I know that we will overcome them. Because we are very, very committed to this project. And and the
Puneeth 28:39
source from Yeah,
Shweta 28:40
absolutely. Our whole whole whole team at the school. At EA all of us are very committed to this project. And we're going to make sure that we overcome any challenge to get the facility up and running by 16th of May, at least with 20 or 25.
Puneeth 29:00
Yeah, I think I think that 20-25 would be sort of like a pilot for you
Shweta 29:05
Yeah. So we'll do a 20. And then within a week or 10 days, we will try to ramp it up to 50 beds. And then after that, maybe another four or five days we'll ramp it up 220 days. That is the plan. That is the hope. And that is the goal. Yeah. That's very standard.
Shweta 33:11
the beds are completely Cytecare’s responsibility, right care has made us aware that they have to give 50% of their beds to bbmp under the bbmp quota. And the beds that come through bbmp are supposed to be given pro bono to the patients that come through bbmp, which is great, because they would mostly be people below the poverty line and on affording of this kind of support. So it's great that we be able to, you know, get them the medical help that they need, without having them to pay for, the medical treatment. So 50% of the bed goes to bbmp, the other 50% will be allotted on a first come first served basis. So the general idea is that the facility will be done not for profit, and people who can't afford to pay for the beds will not pay for the bills. And they will be cross double cross subsidize where those who can afford to pay for the bills. So that's basically the broad plan in terms of allocation and all this responsibility of admission treatment discharge, you know, allocation of beds, all his site case, by case for
Puneeth 34:34
Yeah, I love sight can I've been a big fan of cytecare
Shweta 34:42
over there. It's an amazing, amazing facility. They doing some great, fantastic work and cancer care, palliative care. Yeah, absolutely cutting it ahead of the curve. If you're asking.
Puneeth 34:56
I can't agree more. I love what they're up to.
Puneeth 29:32
Have you thought about because Yeah, because you're at it, let's say post COVID? How are you going to dismantle and get back or what's going to happen to this facility?
Shweta 29:49
So for Sarah to propose COVID we will have so many concentrators, right, so we want to be able to distribute it to tier two tier three cities. Government hospitals in Karnataka, that obviously are not well equipped in terms of medical equipment. So they would definitely welcome oxygen concentrators at their facility. For tier two, tier three cities in, in Karnataka and smaller village hospitals, we will definitely be redistributing these to people who, the less fortunate who definitely will benefit from having access to these. So that's the plan for the equipment. The voting, of course, we will overhaul in terms of replace the medical beds with, of course, our own mattresses, and our own linen and our own, kid friendly stuff. And we will sanitize it about multiple times, I think 678 1012 times, because that would definitely be a concern. And you know, people's mind this too. So we will, we will do a complete sanitization multiple times over of the facility. And we have these kids in your in the network that contributed to this call. So we would like to bring them to campus, , show them this is, yeah, this is a facility that was put up here and made a difference. Yeah, you made a difference to this for maybe do a barbecue movie night or something like that for them. And you just prop them up in terms of the amazing job that they have done as fun in fundraising efforts. That's what we see happening once this wave is behind, hopefully. Yeah,
Shweta 32:23
It's just that, you know, at least for the people who are listening into this podcast, go out there try to try to make a difference. Even if it's in a very small way, you know, you're one step could go a long way to help get some relief to somebody's life. So go out there and try to support in whatever possible way you can, because our city is literally under siege. And we need your help. Yeah.
Puneeth 32:55
I can't put it any better way.